Her Hillbilly Highness

This is a simulation of what happened on the way to school this morning with Riley. I panicked and called Alan and he met me at home to help with the clean-up. Oh yeah, and this was all before 8:00. So, Riley and I had yet another Monday at home doing nothing.

After his bath, he laid on the couch for about thirty minutes and then got up and started singing and reading books. Lucky for me there were no more incidents. After a lunch of crackers, he decided to sweep the floor for me. I guess he decided that he couldn’t live in the filth any longer. He also said “cheese” with his eyes closed for some pictures and then we went to get the girls from school.


Kylie went to school today after coming home from school sick Friday afternoon. She only had a minor fever, if any, but her cheeks were red and rosy. We decided that it was a rash. Probably the same one that Riley had last Monday and Tuesday. When will spring be here?

You may think that this post goes in the Riley’s Blog section of my webpage. Think again, my friend. Our family is going through a major transformation that is known around my neck of the woods as, “the diet”. I am referring to the GFCF or Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Diet. Riley is in withdrawal and the whole house is suffering!

It all started around Christmas break when we ran out of COLORED Goldfish. I emphasize colored because he would pick out the red, green, and purple ones to eat and leave the orange ones. I’m serious, he would have nothing to do with the orange ones. That was my first thought that maybe I shouldn’t let him keep eating them. I rationalized it with, “Well, he only eats 8-10 things anyway so why would I take these away from him?” Okay, so we ran out of them and he kept asking for them by name. We were really busy and in and out of town so I never really had a chance to go to the store and get any. He was without them for maybe over a week and we noticed a big change. He was alert, talking more, had better eye contact, opening presents, things were going pretty good for him, and us.

That’s when I noticed the big flashing light above my head that was saying, “Wake Up and Notice that some foods are NOT good for your child!” We had already learned that his allergy count was a whopping 300 something when a normal count is in the 20’s or 30’s. I immediately started doing research and came across an article talking about the artificial dyes that are added into some foods, especially Red Dye Number 3 which is synthesized with petroleum. Seriously, petroleum! I immediately went into the kitchen and noticed that the majority of foods that Riley likes craves are laced with artificial dyes.

It has taken a couple of weeks to rid him of the goldfish and fruit roll-ups that he craved daily. There have been some set-backs as well. Like the time we were all in Wal-Mart and he was yelling at the top of his lungs, “I WANT GOLDFISH!” Of course, I caved in a let him have some. And the time where he stayed with a friend and I had forgotten to tell them about the no goldfish policy. And the time, just this week, where he begged for them at Early CLASS. They only had the orange ones but he was so desperate that he ate those ORANGE goldfish!!!!

So, without having to put a sign on him that says, “Please don’t feed me goldfish” I am going to try to make him have a goldfish-free existence on this earth. And, while I’m ticking him off majorly, I may as well detoxify him of other things that may be hurting his system or simply find a stand-in for that particular food that is wheat and dairy-free. Let’s see, out of those 8-10 things that he eats, which ones will not make the cut? The aforementioned snacks are on that list, pizza, and the one thing that he lives life for- McDonalds! Now, I have no idea how I am going to take his burger and fries away. How can you substitute that? Especially when he has to eat in the car five days a week and he knows how to spot them out the window. Am I really going to say, “No” to him?

Well, “No” has been the secret word around here this weekend. And for the first time in Riley’s life, I am not afraid to tell him that word. I am going to abandon the theory, “If you say it, I will give you anything you want.” I’m not afraid of him anymore. I know that if he is going to be mad, it won’t last forever. And giving in is doing daily damage.

So, here we are. Over 24 hours into the diet and he has eaten what we have given him even though he has asked for several things that are certainly not on “the diet.” We gave him bacon and he looked at us and said, “Orange Rolls!” We gave him hot dogs and he looked up at us and said, “McDonalds!” But after a moment he sat at the table and ate them. He may not have eaten them all and licked his plate, but he didn’t throw a fit and he told us, “finished” when he was done. Success #1.

Hopefully the better he starts to feel, the more foods he will want to try. He hasn’t eaten spaghetti or soups in a couple of years but I feel that he may get over that hurdle eventually. As far as fruits and veggies, I don’t think that he will ever put any into his mouth. Bananas are the only fruit that he will eat. Sad, but true.

We are all a little bit cranky today from having to endure the wrath of Riley. He is doing well in spite of having his world rocked a little. I’m going to need special prayers during the week to be strong enough not to cave in to him. So, in the words of The Little Engine That Could, I’m going to leave the weekend behind and start the week with this thought.............”I think I can, I think I can.”

Alan and I participated in the Too Cold To Hold 5K this past Saturday morning. Yes, it was 26 degrees, yes, it was near a lake, and yes, the wind chill was 16 degrees. WE FROZE TO DEATH!!



Of course we had no idea that it would be that cold when we signed up and we couldn’t just skip the race when we found out that it was freezing because we had to get our free shirts! So we showed up and got some chick to take our picture to prove that we really were there. It turns out that the chick was a Fox 4 News Reporter and they were there covering the idiots that were running the race. Thanks Krystle!

Alan had a great finishing time and mine wasn’t that bad either but after it was over, I had a huge migraine. Three bottled waters later, I was good to go and we ended up going to the movies. We love to go to the movies and split up. Alan saw Cloverfield and I saw 27 Dresses. I really loved the movie and I am so not a Kathryn Heigl fan. It was a cute romantic comedy and I will definitely want it on video next Christmas. Of course it was chocked full of happiness, girl doesn’t want boy, musical number, girl starts to like boy, boy messes up, girl gets mad, boy wins back girl in the end. Oh, if real life was really like the fairy tale movies!!

For some unknown reason, Kylie wants roller shoes. I guess she has seen some 3rd or 4th grader at her school with them (do they even allow them at school?) and thinks they are the cat’s pajamas. So, Alan told her that if she learned to roller skate pretty well, she could get some. What a softy.

I totally remember roller skating in my garage to The Sound of Music 8 track. I was pretty good in my mind and had a routine complete with jumps and everything.

So, she went and got these skates that Nana gave her about 3 years ago and put them on. She and Alan practiced in the garage and then she came into the house and skated anywhere she could hang on. Two seconds after we took this picture she fell flat on her back. It scared her pretty good but she got right back up and got after it again. I was really proud of her for that.

Kylie hasn’t mentioned skate shoes to us again but when she got back from Nana and Poppy’s house this weekend she had the nicest pair of light up shoes you could find. Turns out she is really happy with those!

Riley was just about to erase this as I walked into the room. If you can’t make it out, it says Baby Newton. Riley has a strong affinity for the Baby Einstein videos and he loves the Baby Newton video about shapes. He can actually draw shapes really well thanks to that video. I guess he has seen the video so much that he committed the words to memory. Hmmmmmm.

Today while I was cleaning out our bookshelf I found a book that my mom had given to Alan and I about 5 or 6 Christmases ago. It was called Christmas Traditions and it had our name engraved on the front cover. A beautiful book just waiting for someone to write inside. Well, I am not a scrapbook person or one to record events on paper. I wish I was, but that’s just not me. Blogging is just so much easier. So, I thought I would blog about the many Christmas traditions that my parents have handed down to their children. Also, I can’t really see Gary or Jeff writing about this stuff.

THE TREE
Christmas in our house started the first weekend in December. We would put the tree up and Mom would make cookies and hot chocolate for us while Dad put on christmas music. I know that as I got older we watched “A Christmas Story” because we always laughed so much when we watched it together. Also, I remember that we would get to put ornaments on the tree which was so much fun. Those were the days when we had homemade and mismatched ornaments that really meant something to us. Now Mom has a themed tree and there are no homemade ornaments or anything out of color or pattern on that tree. I think she bagged up each of our sad ornaments when we were in college and gave them to us to start a tree of our own.

SHOPPING
I remember my Dad taking me to the mall to shop for my Mom. EVERY year I wanted to go into Wicks ‘N Sticks and get her a candle. I got so excited about picking out the perfect candle for her. Until one year I was about to step in the store and my Dad gently said, “Let’s not go in there this year. I think Mom has enough candles.” I got the hint but I believe that was the year that I got her the famous egg scrambler from Eckerds. She hated that gift so much. I never knew until I got older but it’s a really famous What is your worst Christmas gift? answer.
Dads are always so hard to buy for so the year that my Mom got my Dad the perfect gift for him, I went and spoiled it. We were at Sears in the mall looking at the sports equipment. We walked by the tennis racquets and I looked at my Dad and said, “Daddy, we didn’t get you one of those for Christmas.” Cute. My Mom kept all the gifts from me after that.


SANTA
I vaguely remember seeing Santa. I can imagine that we only went to the SherDen Mall to see him until we were in 1st or 2nd grade. I remember that this picture was at Fairview Elementary at night, I guess they had a program or something going on. My Mom doesn’t have any Santa pictures with us crying so we weren’t afraid of him like Riley was. Kylie was always pretty good with Santa as well. This is the only year that I haven’t gotten a picture with my kids and Santa. Kylie and I went to the mall to visit him and she told him her list, did that silly grin for the camera, and I really didn’t feel like spending $21 on ONE picture!!! Also, I didn’t subject Riley to that type of cruelty this year. Although after Thanksgiving we were shopping and he saw a stuffed Santa and called him “Ho!” Surprising since last year he was barely talking when we taught him that word for Santa. Take a look at last year’s picture. Terror and goofy smile, check!




CHRISTMAS EVE
Christmas Eve was always spent at Beady’s house with all the Aunts, Uncles, & cousins that you could ever imagine. We would play games, sing carols, open lots of gifts, eat, and visit. I looked so forward to Christmas Eve with all my family and I have lots of fond memories of that time. Over the years we switched this tradition to my parents house. It’s just started to get fun again since there are kids involved now. Our new tradition is to do a Cake Walk with gift certificates. The kids love this and we don’t have to buy quite as many gifts for people. But we do anyways. This was a year that we weren’t here for Christmas Eve. So, we crammed in the party and Christmas Day festivities all in one night. We weren’t finished until midnight! And we also don’t get stockings :(

CHRISTMAS MORNING
Christmas morning is always such a magical time. I loved getting up and seeing what Santa left out for me. Now I appreciate the excited looks on the kids faces, especially Kylie because she makes a detailed list for Santa. My favorite part is getting Christmas stockings. My Mom always puts in little wrapped gifts for us to open, lip gloss and bath and body products for the girls, oranges, a banana, and chocolate galore! I actually remembered stocking gifts for the kids this year. I am hoping that I can at least carry that tradition along through the years. My favorite present that Santa left was a singing machine. I was so excited about singing, I couldn’t wait until after Christmas brunch to use it. The sad thing was that it was broken. My Dad was so mad and my Mom really felt for me. Turns out that they got it on QVC and there was no way to do a quick return. I think my Dad took it to some guy to get it fixed so I had it back in no time! I really wish that my parents took pictures every year of all the loot that I made out with. I would love to remember all the Santa gifts throughout the years. I started that tradition this year.





PRESENTS AND COOKIES
There are other things that I learned from my Mom that make Christmas feel like I’m seven years old again. She always has the prettiest wrapped presents under the tree. She takes time to sit in the floor, count each persons’ gifts (making sure that everyone has an equal amount), and puts unique bows and such on each gift. It’s not unusual for me to have gingerbread men on my gifts while Carolyn has snowmen on hers. A lot of time and effort go into gift wrapping and giving to her kids and grandkids. I think she may be the most thoughtful person I know. :)

Also, she makes the BEST homemade christmas cookies with icing on them in the world. I didn’t eat any this year because Riley got to them before anyone else and made a pattern on the floor. Sorry Mom!

I have so many more traditions and moments that I would love to write about. Maybe they will make the blog next year. Also, maybe Mom will get that Christmas Card made with all her kids and grandkids on it like she has wanted for so many years. You would think that we all live out of state or something!